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the urban landscape has not been widely promoted by the City. The City does plan to promote this <br />more, and one way could be to ask the owners of any existing native landscapes, if people can look <br />at their landscape to get ideas and know what it could look like. <br />Board Member Valentine asked how an unkempt yard can be distinguished from landscape that <br />has been carefully planned out to create a prairie landscape. <br />City Planner Anderson responded the City will approach the homeowner if there seems to be an <br />issue. Prairie landscaping takes time and planning, and caretaking to make it grow and look good. <br />He said from his time in Code Enforcement, this is a valid question as some homeowners simply <br />stop mowing and say they are letting the yard go natural, which is not the same as establishing a <br />native landscape. Homeowners that are familiar with the plants, and have a sense of how to <br />maintain them are not going to let the plants over grow. These gardens are a significant amount <br />of work to create, and establish. Once they are established, they can be easier to maintain, but it <br />can take a few years to get to that point. <br />Board Member Valentine pointed out both the prairie plants and tall grasses can invite problematic <br />or nuisance animals. <br />City Planner Anderson acknowledged that but also noted that they can also deter nuisance animals <br />such as geese adjacent to water bodies. There is a balance to achieve. <br />Board Member Lewis inquired if there is a minimum size requirement in terms of utilization of <br />having a butterfly garden. <br />City Planner Anderson responded a naturalized prairie area would constitute a butterfly garden but <br />that a small butterfly garden is not the same as a prairie. He said he could not point to a minimum <br />square footage requirement to have a benefit to the environment as a whole. <br />Board Member Lewis suggested it could be interesting to outline and scale what a homeowner <br />could do on a small, city lot compared to what the City can do in terms of the Mayors for Monarchs <br />Program and larger areas to work with. <br />City Planner Anderson stated the discussion in the Council Work Session involved the idea that <br />the City would serve as a repository of information. There are many organizations that can give <br />specific advice and ideas. The City would help provide links to these places, and a summary of <br />information. There will not be a dedicated staff person to teach residents how to do this. He said <br />there was a brief discussion that there are likely some areas in our parks that could be evaluated to <br />see if the maintained areas could be reduced in size. These areas could be good candidates for this <br />type of landscaping. The Parks and Recreation Commission would explore this idea. <br />Board Member Hiatt noted the rain garden that has been created in Alpine Park is a good example. <br />City Planner Anderson advised there is no milkweed in that garden presently, but it could be <br />introduced. The demonstration project in Brookfield will have milkweed. It may make sense to <br />introduce milkweed to other areas with this type of landscaping. <br />Environmental Policy Board / May 16, 2016 <br />Page 4 of 5 <br />